Four Points by Sheraton bets big on Indonesia

Four Points by Sheraton, a brand under the Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide umbrella, has been aggressively pursuing its growth strategy in Indonesia. Buoyed by the Indonesian government’s commitment to growing its tourism industry, Four Points by Sheraton has launched six hotels in just over one year, with a further three hotels in the pipeline.

Four Points by Sheraton is betting big on Indonesia as an upcoming holiday destination. In just over one year the Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide brand has launched six hotels in Indonesia including the Four Points by Sheraton Jakarta, Thamrin recently opened on the 15th August 2016.

The other five properties are in equally enviable locations including Surabaya, Bandung, Makassar and Bali. In an effort to further cement its position in the southeast Asian destination, the brand has also announced plans to launch an additional three hotels- one in Manado scheduled to open in 2017 and two due to open in 2018, one in Bintan and another in Bali.

“We are proud of the immense growth of the (brand) across Asia-Pacific and especially in Indonesia in recent times. Indonesia features our strongest footprint of the brand across South-east Asia and we are confident with its uncomplicated and honest brand positioning, the demand will continue to accelerate.”

Mr Ong also highlighted the fact that his firm has been encouraged by the Indonesian government’s commitment to growing its tourism industry in an effort to diversify its economy and reduce the dependence on exports of raw commodities. The Indonesian government has set itself a goal of attracting as many as 20 million visitors by 2019- an ambitious target considering the fact that this is more than double the number of visitors to Indonesia in 2015, which stood at 9.73 million.

Recent statistics however, show a promising trend that could see Indonesia realise its goals. At the end of August, the Indonesian statistics bureau announced that 931,694 foreign travellers took holidays in Indonesia, a 20.13 per cent increase over the same period last year. Notably this was a more significant annual increase than that recorded for the month of June when foreign arrivals increased by only 0.78 per cent year on year. In the month of July 2016 arrivals China was the largest source market and had an increase of nearly 60 per cent year on year.